Activity Bus

TOPS has a free Activity Bus for students playing sports or taking after school enrichment classes. Meet in the cafeteria by 5 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, students need to be there by 4 pm.

* All students taking enrichment classes must first go to sign out in the cafeteria and the program administrator will walk everyone to the bus.

* Middle school students can just head to the bus. The bus leaves at 5 pm M/T/Th and 4 pm on Wednesdays. Students cannot run to Starbucks before getting onto the bus. Please review this detail with your Middle Schooler.

Note: there is not currently a bus going either north or downtown. The Activity bus leaves TOPS at 5 pm and goes over the bridge, through Montlake up 23rd to Union, stopping in Madrona, continuing down to the ID, then Mt. Baker and Beacon Hill. It has gone to West Seattle in the past.

Please submit the below form, complete with signature, to the TOPS office as soon as possible. You can email the form to Margo Robb, the TOPS Enrichment Program Coordinator, who will be in touch with you about eligibility and details. You can reach her at Margo.Robb@seattle.gov

Your student/s WILL NOT be able to ride the bus until all the proper paperwork has been added. It can take 1-2 weeks for transportation to process requests. Please make sure you have confirmation that your child/ren can ride the buses. There is no guarantee until the Transportation Office gets your student/s added.

The bus covers a lot of territory and can take a long time. Let Margo Robb know if you’d like to see the route for a guesstimate on when your student/s would arrive back in your neighborhood. The Transportation office attempts to drop kids within 2 blocks of their house.

This is the protocol that buses drivers follow for younger riders:
Elementary age students are welcome to ride. The same rules apply to ASAs (Afterschool Activity Buses) as with to-and-from transportation.

K-12 general education students are allowed to get off the bus without someone there to meet them.

Stop assignments would follow service standards: K-5 grade students with stops not causing them to cross major or minor arterial streets; and 6-8 grade students able to cross at controlled intersections.

If a student, of any age, is uncomfortable getting off the bus, the drivers are to keep them on the bus and contact their dispatcher. Our office would then be contacted and we would do our best to make contact with a parent or guardian to have them come meet their student.

Boundaries for busing are greater than what is used for to-and-from transportation, but anything outside the transportation zone will be decided on by the Transportation Office on a case-by-case basis.